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AirCARE1 has been featured in a recent article in Florida Today with the opening of our new Melbourne base. Here is what Florida Today had to say:
Starting Tuesday, a specially equipped “flying ICU” jet will begin operations at Orlando Melbourne International Airport, transporting medical patients 41,000 feet above the ground across the Western Hemisphere.
“It’s a long-range, fixed-wing air ambulance. So we’re going to be able to go down to Mexico and Canada and South America, Central America, all over the United States. We’re an international operation,” AirCARE1 founder and president and 1976 Eau Gallie High grad Denise Waye said.
Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, AirCARE1 uses five Learjets to transport 400 to 500 patients per year. The company has opened an office inside the Apex Executive Jet Center on Apollo Boulevard, continuing a surge of growth the past few years.
“I do this because I’m a nurse. I love what I do. I understand aviation. As a business owner, I understand about the bottom line. But as a nurse, I understand about patient care,” Waye said.
“Our crews don’t cut-and-paste. They are medically trained and understand how to make command decisions and interventions to save people’s lives. I just think this is the greatest job ever. I love it,” she said.
At 12:15 p.m. Monday, a white AirCARE1 Learjet 35 with blue and gray trim taxied to a stop on the apron outside the Apex Executive Jet Center. About 15 people greeted the aircraft, shooting photos and videos.
Crew members unloaded medical supplies, maintenance equipment, uniforms and other cargo. The plane will be available for medical transportation flights starting Tuesday, Waye said.
Medical flights typically cost $10,000 to $50,000. AirCARE1’s clients include Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare. AirCARE1 has more than 100 employees, and the company also operates a base in Phoenix.
Each flight includes a medical patient, one or two pilots, a nurse, a paramedic and up to two passengers.
Born in Melbourne, Waye graduated under her maiden name Denise Kenyon from Eau Gallie High in 1976. Her first job: Working in the cafeteria at the now-defunct Sears at NASA Boulevard and Babcock Street.
“Growing up, it was absolutely idyllic. It was going to the beach. I played a lot of tennis,” she said.
After having five children, Waye attended night school and earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of New Mexico in 1994. She worked in critical care and emergency rooms, then became a flight nurse for a similar air ambulance company.
“I loved being a flight nurse. I loved taking care of my patients. And in fact, as a flight nurse, I became a pilot — and that helped me understand aviation,” she said.
Waye co-launched AirCARE1 flights in 2005 in Albuquerque with one leased plane, three full-time employees and a part-time medic.
AirCARE1 can fly COVID-19 patients by using patient isolation pods aboard its planes.
Waye’s father, Richard Kenyon, who is 91 and uses a walker, lives less than 1 mile from the Melbourne airport. Waye said she will keep tabs on him while bouncing between the desert Southwest and the Space Coast in the coming months. Three pilots and eight crew members are based in Melbourne thus far.
The company is transitioning to larger Learjet 60 models — and if demand continues to grow, Waye may dispatch a second aircraft to Melbourne.
“You know what? The sky’s the limit,” she said.
Original Article Can Be Found At:
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2021/01/04/flying-icu-medical-company-albuquerque-new-mexico-melbourne/4090850001/